Sense of the Senate on Patent Law Reform

Thanks to J. Matthew Buchanan at Promote the Progress for pointing out that the PACE Through Education and Research Act, S.2198, includes a "sense of the Senate" section relating to patent reform. In what he calls "nothing more than smoke signals -- they're short on details and calculated to send signals of support," Section 321 of the bill calls for

• a 20 percent increase in overall funding to hire and train additional examiners and implement more capable electronic processing
• a first-inventor-to-file system
• an open review process following the grant of a patent
• shielding researchers from infringement liability, and
• reducing barriers to innovation in specific industries with specialized patent needs